We all tend to give at least a scrap of credence to the classic idea that heroes and villains share secret similarities. “We’re not so different, you and I,” as James Bond’s stereotypical foe is wont to put it.

There’s something strangely similar going on with Donald Trump and his opposite numbers in the Republican establishment.

With Sarah Palin’s endorsement, of course, Trump looks more anti-establishment than ever. And in the international Bond villain lair of Davos, the talk of the world’s elites is just how much Trump would muck up their established global agenda.

On the other hand, as National Review editor Rich Lowry first began to note this month, certain key figures in the GOP establishment have begun to think the unthinkable – that if they don’t give in to Trump, they’ll be stuck with Ted Cruz, who lacks what could be the pragmatism, the amoralism, or simply the “New York values” to cut decent deals with party elites and their way of politics. Just last week, former Senate majority leader Trent Lott told the Atlantic he’d take Trump over Cruz. Even Bob Dole has gotten in on the act.

True, one possible reason why establishment figures have given Trump a strange new respect is they think, if he loses, they’ll get a clean shot at a Republican reboot. Whereas, as I’ve recently observed, Cruz could become the party’s most powerful figure even if he wins the nomination but loses the election, elites could justifiably suppose that Trump lacks the staying power or the interest to carry the torch for his cross-partisan coalition of insurgents in the political wilderness.

Sure enough, Trump signaled in the most recent debate that he’d just as soon return to private life if he doesn’t get the party nod – even if a possible vice presidential slot is on the table.

But it’s undeniable that there’s an even craftier subtext to the establishment’s swing toward Trump. Trump’s remaining establishment critics consistently portray him as an impresario of the scam: talking so big that he seems vested with a power he really lacks, making promises he has no intention of keeping and cultivating an appreciation among his base for victory for its own sake – victories that won’t even materialize into concrete gains that align with his base’s core interests.

Whether you agree that’s what Trump does, there’s no question that this is the loudest of the establishment attacks against him.

That’s ironic because the critic wing of the party establishment has lost favor and respect among movement conservatives and libertarians for the same reason they lack respect for Trump. They’re seen as scammy impresarios, too – just like the national and global elite who seem to have guided Americans into a rigged system where only ultimate insiders can ultimately succeed.

A biblical ethos would recommend that establishmentarians shouldn’t accuse anyone of being a virtuoso of the scam before considering the genius for the political con that might be running riot in their own hearts. Let he who is without scam cast the first stone! Even in a more secular key, a contender might recast the parable about the mote in the eye as simply a fair and balanced proposition.

Chris Christie, for instance, has made a point during the debates to ask Americans whether they really can stand the likes of ambitious legislators like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio tarring each other with the same brushes.

But this being politics, we’re not likely to find a Christ-like way – or even a logical one – out of the ironic Bond battle brewing on the Right. We’re more likely to watch two teams with the same kind of credibility gap violently square off, struggling to convince a jaded but desperate electorate that they possess marginally more authenticity than their adversaries.

Then again, James Bond hasn’t always been the sort of hero who’s saddled by our modern or postmodern despair that every big shot is at root some kind of anti-hero. However blunt an instrument, however stuck obeying the dictates of a larger agenda, Bond holds out the promise that leaders can sully their hands with power without becoming too corrupt.

Primary season victory should go to whichever reputationally challenged faction of the GOP manages to convince voters it authentically merits the public trust. Whichever faction can’t recognize that deserves a loss of blockbuster proportions.

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